Cooling system for internalcombustion engines



. April 1, 1947- s, w cox 2,418,385

COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 16, 1945Patented Apr. 1, 1947 COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINES.Erederic E. Wilcox, Springfield, Mass.

Application May 16, 1945, Serial N0. 593;988

2 Claims. .1 This invention relates to an improved cooling rsystemandstructure forgas engines. The features will be made clear from thestructure and .;its mode of operation to be explained with the help :ofthe specific example to be described.

some troubles in prior art uses are: When the :cylinder head needs to betaken off; the cooling system needs to be drained and this is notconvenient; desirable cooling fluids are not ordinarily sealed in thecooling systems so there is frequent doubt as to their continuingcharacter, due to the liability of loss by evaporation .or leakage oradulteration or all of these; the radiator, its usual water pump, andtheir connectionsdto the engin jacket, and the connecition for fluidbetween the cylinder block jacket and its head jacket circulation spacesare liable to cause some troubles of one kind or another; 'lSLlCh partsinterfere with a desirable simplifica- :tionof structure and designparticularly in automobiles.

The improvements in this art can be best disclosed by .the specificexample to be explained with the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side View of the new structure applied .to an engine, partsbeing broken away;

Fig. :2 i a similar plan view of the same;

Fig. 2A is a detail view showing a manner "of removably'attaching an airhood cover;

Fig. .3 is aisection 'on line A--A of Fig. 2; and

Fi 4 is a detail view-of a radiator member.

The invention will be described in connection with an automobile enginebut is, of course, not necessarily limited to this main .use.

Enough of the engine iii is shown in Fig. 3 to indicatexth'e cylinderblock 12 and cylinder head I3, meeting on line I i. This cylinder blockhas a cooling Jacket M and theihead has a cooling jacket l4. Thesejackets are preferably separated, -as indicated, in the sense that theydo not communicate one with the other for any liquid exchange.Theadvantage of this is that the head may be removed by the repair manwithout necessarily draining the liquid :from eitherjacket.

The jacket M is formed in "part by'an outer plate ii] preferably of goodheat conductingmetal and with many corrugations M for a large coolingarea. Copper or copper alloys are suitable metals to shape to make theplate and corrugations in one piece, the metal being drawn deeply forthe suitable protuberances or corrugations 24 indicated. The outer wallof jacket M, on one side of the engine block in the example shown, isfurnished by this corrugated plate 49. In a rugations,

72 like manner the "outer wall of the head jacket 14' is furnished witha similar plate 41.

These plates may be fastened and sealedxat :the margins to the .castengine metal as by welding or in anyother feasible way. In this manner aconsiderable increase in space in "them! indicated at 15 andconsequently greatly increased area 'for jacket 14 and correspondinglyat 15'' for jacket It, is provided for each jacket. A fusible plugiflscrewedin for jacket M and another .plug 38 for jacket l5, providesconvenient means to seal each "jacket after it has been filled withliquid as through a plug opening. :If desired the fusible plugs may belocated at the top instead of the bottom, to be used asffillin'g,instead of drain openings.

The structurerand its arrangement is adapted to work with any of thevariouskinds of liquid commonly used in radiators. In addition it isadapted to work with some such substance as paraflin or lard which has aboiling point well above the normal operating temperature of an engineand which solidifies to a wax-like :consistency at normal atmospherictemperatures. When the jacket or jackets are filled with such asubstance in the liquid state, it need :not be drained out and it "willof course take the fluid form by the heat of the engine to function asthe cooling fluid. There are advantages in extending the scope of choiceof substances to use in the cooling system. My structure gives thisadvantage.

The corrugationsiz l of the jacket are means for expanding 'to providefor difierences in volume of theliquid-as 'it heats or as it solidifies.Any suitable substance in liquid form, is sup- "plied 'toeach jacket,preferably enough 'to completely 'fill the jacket. manently sealed byclosing the filling opening. I: need never be drained out. Once it is inthe jacket'it *can'stay there. No vapor can get out. Only 'in the caseof an accident or if "the engine is overheated to a dangerous point needthe jacket be unsealed. In such event the dangerous heat'will fuse plug30, one for each jacket i5 and 5" as seen in Fig. *3, for a blow out ofpressure. This "is :a safeguard. Instead of the fusible plug means, apressure relief valve which is normally closed may be used.

The whole outer wall of jacket l 6' is furnished by plate ll but not sofor jacket 14. The jackets and the corrugations on the outer walls ofjackets M and M are adapted to be so located with respect to anyparticular engine, that they Then the liquid 'isper- "path across theradiator corrugations. 'fed' from a fan 20; driven by pulley 2|, throughpipe 22 to give a forced air blast action. The air enters by pipe 22 andtravels between the corrugations 24 and out at the bottom for liquiddescribed.- sume the four cylinder engine I of the example,

will not interfere with operating parts of the engine, such as valvesand spark plugs. They should be of such extent, particularly thecorrugation height, as to provide a sufficient surface to efiicientlycool the liquid in the jackets. The idea is to provide for a reasonablyclose balance, so that both block and head will be kept at an efiicientengine operating temperature. jacket enough thermal circulation ofliquid will occur to keep near enough to a constant temperature for theliquid even though the whole jacket is not provided with outsidecorrugations. For example in Fig. 3, the right hand part of the jackethas no corrugations because they would interfere with the valve rodmechanismin that case. The liquid in that part will have a thermalcirculation, however, with the left hand parts where enough corrugationsurface is provided for the cooling effect.

An air jacket or hood 3| preferably made up :of sheet metal fastened inthe position shown,

see Figs. 1, 2A and 3, is provided for a cooling air Air is jacket l4,while. it passes corrugations 24 and out at the open far side, see Fig.3, for liquid .lacket I4. engine block at the front in the particularex- .ample. :ion 28 to adjust valve 25 in'pipe 22. ,justment is made toshut off the cooling air until the engine is warmed up and to then helpmain A thermostat 26 is attached to the It works a rack bar 2'!operating a pin This ad- .tain a fairly constant ngine temperature.

It Will be'seen, Fig. 1, that pipe 22 has a slip ;joint"32. The hood 3|may be fastened on as .indicated'in Fig. 2A. Here stud bolt-s such asordinarily used to fasten the cylinder head are elongated. Then a sleeveor spacer 34 serves to hold hood 31 with a nut on top. Thus the boltsserve to fasten both the head and the hood with a head nut and hood nuton the same bolt. In the example there are six such bolts, see Fi 2.

.The hood is cut away to expose the spark plugs. ,One opening for a plugis shown in Fig. 3 and fthe other three are. seen exposed in Fig. 2. It

.willbe seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the cooling systemin no wayinterferes with convenient access to spark plugs and valve mechanism.

The operation will be understood from what has been said in connectionwith the structure It will be briefly summarized. .As-

provided with the cooling structure of the example, the same liquid maybe sealed in for very long use without loss by evaporation or the leaks.such as occur at joints and in pump systems.

leakage or evaporation. When access is needed .to the pistons, valves,or cylinders for service as carbon removal or valve grinding, the simpleremoval of'the hood 3| and cylinder head will give access and withoutdisturbing the liquid of the In each cooling system. The structure usedon an automobile has a space saving advantage compared to the customaryradiator. It also does not require a water pump or hose connection. Ithas advantages heretofore given only by air cooled engines but in theimprovement many disadvantages of air cooled engine systems are avoided.In the drawings it will be seen that where the radiator metal is appliedto the engine, wall portions of the customary water cooled enginecasting is omitted and less metal is needed. That is to say, in manycases the engine and radiator metal considered together may be ofsubstantially less weight than the customary arrangement of engine andradiator. Also less liquid is required than in the normal coolingsystem. These are samples of the useful results in the use of thestructure.

Having disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. The combination of an engine with cylinder block and removable headeach provided with liquid cooling jackets, one for the block and one forthe head, the outer wall of thejacket for the block having a substantialportion of its whole area formed with heat rediating protuberances togreatly increase its area, such block jacket being adapted to receiveliquid and seal the liquid therein independently of the jacket for thehead, the jacket for the head having a similar construction as its outerwall and adapt ed to seal liquid in it independently of the liquid inthe other jacket, and fusible plugs, one; in each jacket construction torelieve pressure upon overheating.

2. The combination of an engine with cylinder block and removable headeach provided with liquid cooling jackets, one for the blockand one forthe head, the outer wall of the jacket for the block having asubstantial portion of its whole area formed with heat radiatingprotuberances to greatly increase its area, such block jacket be ingadapted to receive liquid and seal the liquid therein independently ofthe jacket for the head, the jacket for the head having a similarconstruction as its outer wall and adapted to seal liquid in itindependently of the liquid in the outer jacket, emergency blow offdevices, one

in each jacket construction to relieve pressure,

upon over-heating, and a hood construction over thatpart of said jacketsmade with the heat radiating protuberances to provide paths for coolingair.

FREDERIC S. WILCOX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent: V

UNITED STATES PATENTS Birkigt Feb. 13, 1940 V

